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Printer-Friendly ModeBattle of the Books
Campus bookstore, online retailers vie for student business
January 16, 2006 —
An unusually warm winter has sent temperatures to record highs, but another record high is causing frustrated students to reach their boiling point: the price of college textbooks.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) of the federal government recently released a report showing that college textbook prices were far outstripping the inflation rate. Since 1986, the GAO noted that the average price of textbooks nearly tripled, rising 186 percent, compared to a 72-percent increase in consumer prices (and a whopping 240 percent in the average cost of tuition and fees).
Currently, the SVSU Bookstore, a Barnes & Noble subsidiary, is the only on-campus location where students can purchase their textbooks. But while a stroll through the bookstore will find many students waiting in line and checking out with books and supplies in hand, it will also show many students frantically scribbling down the ISBNs, or International Standard Book Numbers, of their textbooks so that they can check prices online.
With online retailers such as Amazon.com, Half.com, or Textbookx.com often providing a less expensive alternative to traditional retailers, the bookstore is witnessing increasing competition for student business and dollars. Many students feeling the pinch of a less than robust local economy have all but abandoned the bookstore as a business, and are simply using it to easily find the ISBNs of the books they will need for their classes that semester.
Jennifer Stadinki, a sophomore, is one of the students using the bookstore primarily to get the requisite textbooks' ISBNs. For her, the cheaper materials that are available on the Internet are the main reason she is not buying at the SVSU bookstore.
"I only have so much financial aid, so I look for books online," Stadinki says.
Finances are a major factor in students exploring new avenues for their book purchases. But money is not the sole factor in students' decisions.
The convenience of shopping on campus is a major draw for many students, and for some, this turns out to negate any of the financial benefits received from shopping online.
"I'm buying books here because I don't have the time to wait on shipping," says Chris Young, a junior.
Like many students, a hectic work schedule takes away much of his free time to search for and purchase books online. In addition, shipping, which can take up to two weeks or more, is also an additional expense that students will generally encounter if they choose to shop online.
However, Young is fully cognizant that by purchasing solely from the bookstore, he is passing up potential significant financial savings from the Internet. But he admits that this is the price he pays for being so busy.
"I don't have the time to save on costs," Young says.
Bookstore Store Manager Christopher Pawloski acknowledges that some books may be cheaper if purchased online, even though the bookstore finds itself subject to publishers' prices. Yet Pawloski says the bookstore is responding to the increase in online competition by playing to one major factor of stressed students' lives: convenience.
"We're responding to the online sites by having books in stock," Pawloski says.
Time is not the only factor in purchasing books online. Students receiving financial aid face hurdles in utilizing this aid through shopping online. Some students do not even want to deal with the hassles of processing financial aid through online vendors, since financial aid can be stressful enough without the extra burden of online shopping.
Melissa Freeman, a senior, is one of these students. She admits that even though books may be cheaper online, "it's just easier to buy books in the store using financial aid."
As the size of campus continues to swell, the bookstore may face local competition as well. Off-campus competition, akin to Central Michigan's campus, could accompany the increase in student population. The only barrier standing in the way is the question of profitability.
"It would be up to the competition to open up," says Pawloski, who questions whether or not a local competitor would be able to get enough business to turn a profit.
Pawloski says that the policy of the bookstore is to allow students to write down ISBNs, and search elsewhere for books. In the past, however, some students may have been pressured when writing down ISBNs, but Pawloski says that "now the policy is more liberal."
"The only time we would ask anybody to leave is when it's time to close the store," Pawloski asserts.
He is unsure of whether or not students in the past have been asked to leave for writing down ISBNs, but that it is not bookstore policy.
Pawloski also states that the bookstore Web site is going to undergo some serious revamping during the summer. He says students can expect changes in graphics, as well as making it easier to reserve books for classes.
Overall, it appears that the main advantage of shopping online is the price, and the main advantage of shopping in the bookstore is the convenience and the easier applicability of financial aid. Sara Lowthian, a sophomore, may have best summed up the mixed feelings of students regarding book purchases.
"I'll buy some books here, in the bookstore," she says. "You can get some cheaper online, but it's more of a hassle there."